SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Lukas Morscher, Lukas Staub and Jil Eichenberger, Lenz & Staehelin
Self-Driving Vehicles As for self-driving vehicles, the Swiss Federal Council and Parliament have amended the Road Traffic Act and its ordinance to regulate automated vehicles. The new framework comes into effect on 1 March 2025 and will govern the deployment and operation of self-driving cars in Switzerland. Drone Regulations Drone operations in Switzerland are regulated by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (the “FOCA”). While there are no specific rules for AI in drones, programmed-route drones face stricter require - ments than manually operated ones, including mandatory registration and operator training. Since January 2023, the EU Drone Regulation also applies in Switzerland, introducing stand - ards for drone classification, operator registra - tion and pilot certification to enhance safety and integrate drones into Swiss airspace. 4. Internet of Things 4.1 Machine-to-Machine Communications, Communications Secrecy and Data Protection The internet of things (IoT) refers to objects and devices which are connected to a network such as the internet and which use the network to communicate with each other or make informa - tion available. The connecting device may be a modem, network attached storage (NAS), a webcam, intelligent light switches, or smart TVs connected to an internal network or the inter - net. The Swiss regulatory framework encour - ages digital services, in particular, due to the technology-neutral approach of the legislation, thereby allowing ample room for development of technology-driven business models and com - panies.
There are generally no regulation-induced impediments to technological innovation under existing law therefore. Government authorities periodically review developments in technology and generally emphasise the importance of mak - ing use of technological progress. Considerable efforts are undertaken to further facilitate market entry for technology-driven business models. As more and more intelligent devices are con - nected to the internet, not only has the number of communications participants involved grown, but the number of vulnerable devices that may be misused by hackers (eg, for sending spam emails) has also increased. These devices need to be adequately protected (eg, by using individ - ual passwords or restricted access) and respec - tive software has to be kept updated. Between objects and devices that communicate with each other, large amounts of information and data are typically exchanged. This may also have an impact on the protection of personal data and the general rules of data protection apply. Any data subject is protected from their personal data either being processed in a way that is not compliant with the law or used for purposes other than those communi - cated or apparent to the data subject, unless the data subject consents to this processing or unless another statutory justification applies (see 2 Cloud and Edge Computing regarding key data protection principles). To protect critical information and communica - tion infrastructure in Switzerland, the Federal Council has created the National Cyber Security Centre (the “NCSC”) as an independent federal authority which has been operational since 1 January 2024. To prevent devices within the IoT from being misused by hackers, the NCSC rec -
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